For the first time, researchers have successfully transplanted human neurons into the brains of baby rats, they report today (October 12) in Nature. The human cells formed connections with rat neurons and could be used to control the rats’ behavior.
“It’s a very important . . . very cool study,” Yun Li, a molecular geneticist at the University of Toronto who was not involved in the research, tells MIT Technology Review. “The fact that they succeeded in many of these experiments is quite extraordinary.”
To perform human cell experiments, especially when studying the effects of certain drugs, scientists have developed models called organoids: tiny structures grown from stem cells that mimic the human brain or other organs. However, they can’t replicate the complexity of real human neuron development on their own, Science News reports.
In a bid to further organoid development, scientists transplanted human cerebral organoids into the brains of ...
